Special report: Man from the Pru talks Chinese

The insurance giant has launched a big sales push in the Far East, but its methods fall short of UK standards

IN Hong Kong’s huge Ocean Terminal shopping complex Prudential has opened a shop alongside aspirational fashion brands such as Prada and Ralph Lauren.

Potential customers are ushered through the glass doors into a waiting room with muted colours and product literature spread over the table.

It is one of Prudential’s flagship outlets and forms part of its multi-million-pound push to establish itself as a household name in the Far East’s booming financial- services market.

The firm’s logo appears on buses in Bangkok and hoardings in Hong Kong, while its red-and-white motif unconsciously echoes the colours of HSBC, a British institution known to millions of customers across Asia.

But The Sunday Times has discovered that the Prudential’s selling standards, although acceptable in the Far East, fall well short of those that have now been enforced by the UK’s Financial Services Authority (FSA).